Child Abuse

Child Abuse: A Social Problem That Has to End

Child abuse, the brutal act of some adults on children, is a social problem which subjects thousands of kids to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and its effects are usually severe. Many sociologists believe that the ill-treated child regularly goes on to develop into a violent criminal, alcoholic, welfare case or even another child abuser. Each year, thousands of children are being maltreated and harmed due to many reasons including the psychological malfunctions of the abusers who choose to display their complexes on children who are vulnerable and are not able to defend themselves."In 1975 alone, 166 infants less than a year old were murdered, 327 children between the ages of one and four were murdered, 142 children between the ages of five and nine were murdered, and 205 children between the ages of ten and fourteen were murdered" (Prescott, J. 1977). Child abuse is a problem that includes many types, has many causes, and affects the innocent, abused children negatively and leaves deep emotional scars in them.

There are many types of child abuse, mainly four types which include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The first two types get the most notice; perhaps because they involve physical violence. However, neglect is by far the most common type of child abuse, recording more than 60 percent of all cases of child maltreatment. To begin with, physical child abuse can be defined as an adult's physical act of hostility subjected at a child which results in injury even if the adult didn't have it in mind to harm the child. "Such acts of physical aggression account for between 15 and 20 percent of documented child abuse cases each year" (Jaffe-Gill, Jaffe, and Segal, 2007). Many parents believe that beating up their children is a form of discipline and is a way to teach their offspring to behave themselves. However, teaching the child to behave doesn't have to be by using brutal physical contact. It is astonishing to know that some adults or caregivers of children go further in their act to reach to a point where they murder the child, not realizing what they have done till it is too late.

The second type of child abuse would be the sexual abuse. This kind of abuse accounts for about 10 % and it is usually defined as any sexual act between an adult and a child. Such acts include behavior involving penetration, exposing children to adult sexuality, and other unethical behavior that involves sexual attitudes with children. The abuser is usually a person who is trusted by the child and is known to usually give the child the care and attention that he wants. "More than 80 percent of sex offenders are people the child or adolescent victims know" (Jaffe-Gill, Jaffe, and Segal , 2007).Children are unaware of the sexual abuse they are being subjected to and are psychologically unable to handle the sexual stimulation and thus develop problems due to the overstimulation. Most of the abusers threaten the children with violence so as not to tell anyone of what happened, and thus make the child unwilling to talk about the subject due to his feeling of shame from the sexual activity that occurred.

The third type of child abuse is the emotional abuse which is the behavior that gets in the way of a child's mental health or social development. This kind of abuse is displayed via various means such as verbal insult and extreme punishment which leads to negative psychological effects that would last throughout the child's life and perhaps ruin his image of emotions. Emotional abuse doesn't come from adults only, but also from children of the same age. Many children have a hostile attitude towards other children if they notice a sign of weakness in them, and thus make their lives a misery. "Children deprived of physical affection are more vulnerable to pimps and kiddy-porn peddlers. Many runaways go straight to the streets" (Prescott, J. 1976).

Last but not least when it comes to the types of child abuse, there is a main category which is neglect. Neglect is an example of failing to supply children with their basic needs, to the extent that the child's physical and psychological well-being are damaged or threatened. In child neglect, the parents or caregivers are basically choosing not to do their job. Physical neglect is a subcategory of child abuse and it is mainly neglecting the needs of children such as health care, food, cloth and hygiene. Educational neglect is another subcategory where parents overlook the education of their offspring and may even go far by not enrolling them in schools to get the right learning. The third type is emotional neglect where parents don't